Government
Kentucky attorney general among those warning Maine not to enact medical shield law
Kentucky’s Russell Coleman is among 16 state attorneys general threatening legal action if Maine enacts a law shielding its medical providers from penalties for providing reproductive and gender-affirming care to residents of other states. The Republican attorneys general assert such a law would be “extraterritorial bullying” and “could also trigger a rapid tit-for-tat escalation that […]
Kentucky hunters, anglers decry proposal to put Fish and Wildlife under agriculture department
FRANKFORT —Wildlife conservation and sportsmen groups on Tuesday voiced strong opposition to a bill that would put wildlife management under the purview of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and its Republican commissioner.? Senate Bill 3, sponsored by Sen. Jason Howell, R-Murray, would move the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) from the tourism […]
Opponents from across the political spectrum?testify against sweeping crime bill
FRANKFORT — Kentucky’s Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday heard a slew of testimony from across the political spectrum opposing an omnibus crime bill.? Senate Judicial Committee Chair Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Fruit Hill, said that while House Bill 5 was up only for discussion Tuesday, he expects a committee vote on the legislation Thursday. The bill […]
Kentucky Senate advances bill creating new hurdles for utilities to retire power plants
Republicans in the GOP-dominated Kentucky Senate advanced a bill Tuesday largely on a party line vote to create new hurdles before utilities can retire fossil fuel-fired power plants in the state, touting the legislation as a way to keep the state’s electricity supply reliable and available.? Senate Bill 349, backed by Senate President Robert Stivers, […]
Kentuckians would vote on putting public money into private schools under bill that moved from committee
FRANKFORT — Kentuckians could decide in November to let public money be spent on private schools — although the language put to voters wouldn’t be quite that straightforward — under a bill approved by a House committee Tuesday. The House Committee on Elections, Constitutional Amendments and Intergovernmental Affairs voted 11-4 to send House Bill 2 […]
Louisville launching five-year plan for universal preschool
FRANKFORT — Kentucky’s largest city took steps Tuesday to implement universal, free and optional preschool for its 3- and 4-year-old citizens.? Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg announced that a new nonprofit called Thrive by 5 Louisville will work over the next five years with both public and private dollars to get children in the city better […]
Kentucky House passes bill that adds loopholes to open records law
FRANKFORT — The House approved a Republican-backed bill that open government advocates have repeatedly warned would add loopholes to Kentucky’s open records laws.? Rep. John Hodgson, R-Fisherville, recently said in the House State Government Committee that House Bill 509 seeks to modernize state open records laws, which were established in the 1970s before widespread use […]
Kentucky Republican pitches $165 million to improve care, safety of juveniles in state detention
FRANKFORT — Kentucky would spend $22 million to build a special mental health juvenile detention facility as well as create a process to test and treat such children under a sweeping bill being discussed in the legislature.? Sen. Danny Carroll, a West Kentucky Republican, filed Senate Bill 242 as a shell bill on the last […]
House bill encouraging local governments to meet child care challenges moves to full Senate
FRANKFORT — A Kentucky House bill that encourages local governments to examine available zoning for child care centers received unanimous approval by a Senate committee Tuesday.? House Bill 561 cleared the House in late February. Now that it cleared the Senate Families and Children Committee 9-0, it can go to the Senate floor.? “A lot […]
Shop owner worried bill limiting vape products will put him out of business
New limits on vaping products that a Northern Kentucky shop owner says will put his stores out of business passed the Kentucky House Monday with opposition from some Northern Kentucky lawmakers.? The legislation, House Bill 11, would limit vape sales in Kentucky to products authorized or pending action by the federal Food and Drug Administration. […]
Both of these women needed to end their pregnancies. Only one got to do it on her terms.
Jennifer Vollstedt and Ariel Cavanaugh-Okhah have never met, but they are connected by fatal chromosomal abnormalities that affected their wanted pregnancies, and the stress and heartbreak that come with it. Their experiences of needing to terminate their pregnancies were quite different. One took place before the Dobbs ruling overturned Roe and the federal right to […]
Kentucky House passes bill weakening safety protection for coal miners
Republicans in the GOP-dominated Kentucky House of Representatives passed a bill Monday that a long-time coal mine safety advocate says would put miners at risk by weakening a key protection put in place nearly two decades ago.? House Bill 85, sponsored by Rep. Bill Wesley, R-Ravenna, would reduce the number of required mine emergency technicians […]